At Futuro Verde, being an IB school means teaching students to think independently, encouraging engagement with local issues in a global context, and valuing both personal and academic achievement. While our IB Diploma Program students may take a several pathways to graduation, all Futuro Verde students benefit from being an IB World School.
Research shows that the IB Diploma Program stands out for factors such as university preparedness, enrollment and achievement, academic persistence, critical thinking, and higher education outcomes. According to a study from 2013, IB high school graduates from the USA were 2 times more likely to attend and ultimately graduate from a four year university than the average US national graduate. The most notable reason that IB Diploma Program graduates persist at university and ultimately graduate at higher rates than non-IB graduates is their preparation for juggling university coursework. Most notably, the areas of time management, study skills and writing (think Extended Essay!) were highlighted by university students who had graduated with the IBDP as being the most helpful.
On the whole, research shows that the IB DP graduates outperform non IB graduates from across all advanced high school programs worldwide, be it A levels or AP. Part of the reason for this is the integrated nature of the curriculum, with the Core (Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay, and CAS) requiring critical thinking, research experience, time management, and civic mindedness. Another part is the academic rigor. In a global study of a comparison between the mathematics course offerings of the DP and five other advanced qualifications from around the world, researchers found that “IB’s further mathematics HL was determined to be the most cognitively demanding course of the curriculums examined.” Further evidence of the academic rigor may be deduced from a study conducted in the USA this year which showed that average SAT scores among IB students, as compared to their non-IB peers, were over 100 points higher!
Finally, in summary of the value of the IB Diploma for university attendance rates, university selectiveness, and university performance, research finds that:
Former DP students in the United States (US) are significantly more likely to attend a ‘selective’ or ‘highly selective’ institution compared to the average US college-goer.
In the UK, they are more than twice as likely attend a top 20 university than the average A level student.
Minority and low income IB students from Chicago Public Schools were shown to go on to university at significantly higher rates than a matched control group of their non-IB peers of similar academic ability.
Feedback collected from a wide range of IB graduates suggests that IB students have an easier time adjusting to university studies.
Surveys of university and college admissions staff in the US, the European Union (EU) and Australia show that these professionals are both familiar with the programme and hold it in very high esteem compared to other qualifications.
An analysis of the recognition policies of the top universities in the US reveals that most of these institutions grant credit or advanced standing for high performance in DP courses.
